Lies and Truths
by Kyd Chyme
Summary: Dick doesn't know where he falls any more. Robin. Nightwing. ...Batman. His duty, the legacy, and the thing he swore he would never become. Yet there he was, erasing imaginary lines and breaking promises.


**I do not in fact own Young Justice.**

**Lies and Truths**

He would like to tell people his name was Nightwing. Something of his own creation and will. A superhero. And not the Batman. Never the Batman. _Nightwing._

_Truth._

But Batman was gone. And that wasn't okay.

Not dead, though some speculation certainly dipped into that line of thought. Even the elusive Batman was _occasionally_ seen in public view. And the Batman hadn't been seen prowling Gotham for a long time. Too long.

_Crap._

Because that wasn't _okay._

_Truth._

Couldn't have that kind of rumor humming around Gotham.

And it shouldn't be a big deal. Superboy was filling in for the big man and M'gann was playing several of the MIA's.

No big deal.

_Lie._

Kinda like this thing with him and Wally. No big deal.

Yeah, right.

This was so messed up.

He wasn't the Batman.

But a _Robin_ wouldn't have asked Artemis to enter the world she had escaped from. _Robin_ wouldn't have made his best friend suffer on the sidelines. _Robin_ wouldn't have lied.

He wasn't Robin anymore.

Nightwing.

_Nightwing._

He had done those things as Nightwing. Lines had been teetered and crossed. He wondered how many more he would breach. How many more he was willing to. Probably a lot further than he should even consider. Probably even more than that.

The worst part was watching others realize what was happening. Wally saw it first, but he'd known Wally forever.

He was becoming Batman.

_Truth. _

God save him.

The girls and lies and risks and lines crossing and dissolving and not even being there at all.

He wasn't a good person. He was just trying to do good things.

_Truth. _

Batman was gone.

And now his legacy is here to fill in the cowl in his absence.

Bruce had never wanted that. (_Lie?_) But here he is. Standing in front of a Bat suit at 3am in a dark cave. Alone.

Sure, Alfred and Tim were around, but they just didn't get it. He had to do this. Someone had to make the tough calls, and now if he didn't, _no_ _one_ would.

And he wasn't even sorry.

_Lie._

Is not like he could trust someone else to do this.

And it wasn't permanent or anything.

_Lie. _

Bruce would come back and everything would go back to normal and he could just be the good guy again. The dorky, awkward kid with the lucky draw and real smiles.

_Liar_.

Bruce didn't lie too much. Just a lot of secrets. Omitted truths. Whatever.

_Lie._

Temporary, temporary.

Maybe. Hopefully, because really, Bruce never got what was wrong with the little kid he brought into his life. You could argue that Jason had been too violent or that Tim was weak… You could. But they were different.

_Lie. _

Bruce had been able to decide that he would do for others what could not be done for him the night he lost his parents. He was going that direction, and why not? He had opportunity and means and want… Jason would have been a thug. Maybe too clever for his own good, or maybe clever enough to become a boss one day. He would have killed. Nothing too personal. Just business. Angry.

_Truth._

And Tim. Tim wouldn't have lasted too long. Too soft. Not a killer. Just some dead kid on the street or some young thing in jail. Either way.

_Truth. _

But not him. Not Dick Grayson.

Dick Grayson was a killer.

_Robin _was a killer.

_Truth. _

Yeah, not even Nighting.

_Boy Wonder._

He had wanted blood as a child. To kill Tony Zucco. Destroy him and laugh when he would look up into the bloodied face of a child as he lay dying. Watch Richard Grayson paint him face with Zucco's blood.

He wanted revenge. And he wouldn't have stopped there.

For everything Robin was, happy or _inspiring, _or a role model or whatever bullshit was thrown in the mix of life and legacy, there too was darkness. Even then. More now maybe, when hiding it seems so dumb and useless. He was just too tired to now.

_Lie._

It wasn't that he _wanted_ to kill, just that he would have been good at it. A way to live out there.

_Truth._

_Mostly._

Not like he wasn't done it before.

Nothing Bruce didn't know about.

_Truth._

That rapist? Back when he was Robin? Anyone?

No.

Didn't think so.

But people don't just fall off buildings you now.

Bruce never said a word to him though. Not once.

Or about Zucco, the walking time bomb.

_Truth._

Yeah.

Zucco was a dead man, dead and gone these last ten years without even realizing it. Dick couldn't stop it now even if he wanted to. All Zucco had to do was be released. Leave his little prison and then his life was done. The nanobots were set to go. Detonator at the bottom of the Atlantic. Ready, set, ka-boom.

It would be messy.

It's probably going to happen.

Bruce might not even know.

_Truth. _

Maybe.

_Lie._

_Splat. _

Doesn't matter. What's done is done.

_Truth._

And that probably makes him very unqualified for this Batman thing.

_Maybe._

He had already crossed the line. The only one that really mattered to Bruce. It just wasn't one that mattered to him. The one that mattered to Dick.

He hadn't made his own lines yet.

_Truth._

He could try starting over again. Born-again non-killer?

"_Once you cross the line Dick…"_

Yeah yeah. No going back.

He knew that.

And this was ridiculous.

He was still Nightwing.

_Lie._

This little escapade didn't mean anything.

_Lie._

All he had to do tonight was be seen by a couple of baddies and civilians and there. Done. Batman Lives.

_Lie._

He didn't even plan to fight in the thing either. Nope. And really, he shouldn't. It's been too long with the cape thing, and the boots was wearing with the thing were all sorts of ridiculous. The kind of ridiculous that pushed him from 5'10 to 6'1. Still two inches shot of the big bad Bat, but he didn't want to push it. It would be way too embarrassing for him to die from _platformed boots._

_Truth._

The cowl itself wasn't being too kind, either. Impaired vision. Plus the nose didn't fit quite right. And Bruce's eyes were actually slightly closer together and more deep set anyways so it just didn't fit and...

But now he's nitpicking.

_Damn, but he needed to sleep._

Distracting himself.

Right, boundaries.

Wally had managed some.

Wally would not let their friendship overshadow Artemis. Wally trusted Dick. He did not trust Dick to keep her from harm's way.

Dick didn't blame him. He had no reason to.

It still bothered him. Wally had made a boundary. Found a line he would not cross. Not even for him. But Wally was a good person. Good like the Flash.

Dick used to think he was the light to brighten Batman's shadowed grey. The kind of grey that blended better into the night than day. He wasn't anymore. He hadn't been for a long time now, if ever, really.

_Truth._

Poetic sap.

Crap.

He didn't want this.

_Truth. _

He didn't _deserve_ this. Not this… hellish responsibility.

_Lie._

Just _let_ him be Robin again. Clean. Cleaner, anyway. He made better decisions then. The _right _kind, morally. Mostly. He liked people like that. The world needed them.

He wanted to _be_ that person.

_Truth._

Of course, the world needs a Batman too.

Says who?

Him.

Bruce.

Superman, once or twice.

Hell, even the Joker… But that was for his own kind of fun…

Sometimes Dick thought he understood men like the Joker in a deeper way. The identifying kind. _Almost one of my own._

As a child… no, even now. Teetering. Insane. Good. Bad. Or maybe just lack of sleep. All of the above.

He was so tired of this.

_Truth._

Wally quit. Dick didn't have that option.

_Truth._

As much as he didn't want it, truth and lie, he had this duty or need or obligation. Whatever. He had it.

Enter, legacy.

"_I don't want to be the Batman."_

Like he ever had a choice.

**REDONE 'CASUE THE LAST TIME I DIDN'T EVEN EDIT AND I DON'T HAVE A BETA ND THAT COULD HAVE BEEN A GRAMMAR BATTLE FIELD. **

**Please feel free to leave some comments or suggestions or whatever…**

**-KydChyme**


End file.
